Signed shirts salute Detroit high schools

The Macomb Daily/DAVID N. POSAVETZ
Anita McMillan, who attended Cooley High School, signs a T-shirt bearing her school’s image while Michael Williams shows off more of his creations. Williams has created the T-shirts to preserve memories of the schools.

If you graduated from a Detroit Public School high school, Mumford High School graduate Michael Williams has a T-shirt for you.

Williams has created more than 35 T-shirts bearing photographic images of Detroit high schools. Some schools are still open, others are closed and/or demolished. He also is selling the shirts (unsigned) with the same images.

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He plans to put the colorful shirts on tour in June (starting June 1 at the Detroit Public Library Main Branch) in an exhibit titled “Signatures: A Collection of Autographs from Proud DPS Alumni.” More than 5,000 “autographs” have been collected, with signatures dating back to graduates from Redford High School 1937, Eastern 1940 and Northwestern 1948. Some alumni have brought memorabilia with them when they signed, including class pins, tassels from graduation caps and school yearbooks.

There are some recognizable names among the signatures: former Detroit City Councilwoman Martha Reeves (Northeastern, class of 1959), one-time lead singer of the Motown group Martha and the Vandellas; furniture mogul Art Van Elslander, a Denby grad; attorney Sam Bernstein, a Mumford grad; and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Cass Technical High School class of 1988.

But before the shirts are encased in acrylic cases, Williams continues on his own tour encouraging grads to put their signatures on these special shirts picturing their schools. This week he drew interest at the Michigan Schools and Government Credit Union offices in Troy and Clinton Township.

Graduates with lots of memories streamed into both locations, anxious to write their name and graduation year on shirts bearing their school’s name and picture.

At the Clinton Township site, Sharon Sanborn Martin happily signed a Northeastern (Home of the Falcons) shirt. The 1976 graduate called her high school days “The best time of my life. I had a really good time.” Although the school building no longer exists, Martin still pays occasional visits to the East Warren and Chene Street site where the building stood.

Martin said because it was a smaller school, “What I remember most is that we got to know each other and became close to teachers and counselors.”

Williams got started with the T-shirt project last November to “preserve memories of the architecture that was DPS.”

Because Williams still mourns the demolition of his alma mater, Mumford, he’s anxious to preserve memories of all the schools. The Detroit Public Schools have come on board to support his project and Williams is hoping to get some corporate sponsorship. He plans to add shirts for Catholic schools.

Another signing event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 18-19 at The Detroit Shoppe at the Somerset Collection in Troy.

For more information or to order a T-shirt from your Detroit high school, visit www.SchoolShirtShop.com.